MisJudged
by Dobby246
Summary: Trapped on a mountain, Snape learns some disturbing truths about the Dursleys, will he help save Harry from the abuse, or will he turn a blind eye like everyone else?
1. Chapter 1

**_This is my first ever fanfic so I apologise if it isn't very good, but I hope you like it, please review and tell me what you think (set in Harry's 3rd year)_**

**_Anything you recognise belongs to the amazing JK Rowling_**

Harry had just reached the common room after the start of term feast, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had sat down to play a game of exploding snap, just as Harry went to join them a small brown owl flew through the open window and collided with the table of which they were sitting at.

"Bloody bird!" Ron moaned as he took the letter attached to Errol's leg. Errol then got up, shook his head and flew back through the window towards the owlery. "Arrggg I left my trainers back at home" he said after reading the letter "mum wants me to send a school owl to pick them up coz Errol can't do it"

He stood up to leave, but then sat back down with a groan, he was way too tired to walk up to the owlery and back at this time of night.

"Do you want me to go?" Harry asked, he himself was feeling tired but felt like having a walk alone for a while anyway

"Cheers mate, sure you don't mind?" he asked but at that same time leaned further back into the sofa and propped his feet up on the table in front of him

"No it's fine" he turned to leave but Hermione pulled him back

"you really shouldn't give into his laziness Harry" she stated giving Ron a displeasing look, Harry who was used to his friend's laziness just grinned and left through the portrait hole.

By the time Harry was walking back from the owlery he was feeling quite exhausted himself, and achy for that matter.

Uncle Vernon's punishments over the last few months had most certainly gotten worse, and last nights had been especially harsh. Harry hadn't done anything to deserve it, But Vernon decided to give him a "going away present" this resulted in a few broken ribs and bruises all over his back and legs from his uncles leather belt

The effects of a summer's worth of abuse were returning to him now and he felt achy and generally weak. This mood was made worse by the arrival of his least favourite potions teacher.

"Well, well out for a stroll Potter? Its past curfew, do you believe yourself above the rules?" Snape sneered as he looked down on the small scrawny boy below him

Harry not feeling strong enough to get in an argument just replied "no sir"

"No? Then why Potter, are you out in the corridors at this hour?" He challenged

"I was delivering a letter, professor" Harry said, he looked over at the window in order to avoid Snape's eyes; snow was gradually falling outside, despite being the wrong season for snow.

"A letter you say? I can't imagine you having anyone to send a letter to Potter" he said, trying to provoke the boy, and his comment obviously had some effect because Harry's head snapped up.

"I was doing a favour for Ron actually" Harry tried to get angry at Snape, but all he felt was hopelessness. Snape had just said exactly what Harry had been thinking about over the summer. That he really didn't have anyone, except Ron and Hermione of course.

"Ahhh" Snape said he was trying to get the boy angry, so that he would have a reason to give him a detention but when Potter had looked up, there was hurt and sadness in the boy's eyes and this disconcerted him "The great Harry Potter, constantly doing good deeds for his fellow house mates, how very noble of you Potter"

"I…." Harry started but as his gaze wandered over to the door near the end of the corridor his voice faltered, emerging from the partially open door, was a thick black smoke, it was so thick that it looked more like a solid sludge seeping out along the floors and the walls.

"What are you…." Snape began to ask but as he spotted the stuff as well he stopped. The smoke was fast approaching them and he didn't really want to find out what would happen if it did, he turned to Potter and was about to tell him to run when the smoke engulfed them.

Harry stood shocked as the black smoke closed around his chest, he felt as though the black smoke had overtaken the air. He couldn't see Snape anywhere; in fact he couldn't even see his own hands. He tried to call out but no words came out, only a strangled sort of croak, suddenly he felt weightless, as though he had been lifted off the ground completely. His head began to spin and he couldn't breathe, he was sure he was going to suffocate. When all of a sudden he was falling, falling for what seemed like ever until at last he hit the ground. He felt his whole body crack and was sure he must have broken every bone in his body. A fierce wind was blowing through his ears and he began to lose consciousness, the last sound he heard was a similar thud next to him, then nothing.

**_Sorry its short, the next chapter will be longer I promise, please let me know what you think J_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Second chapter of my fanfic_**

**_To all of those who have reviewed, thank you so much, I really appreciate it, and will do my best to take all your advise J _**

**_hazeldragon_**

**_GarnetMonsoon_**

**_Hobesan_**

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**_Thatsallwegot_**

Snape gingerly stood up with a grunt, he had managed to use a cushioning charm on himself before he had hit the ground, and was only suffering from an achy back and a slight cut on his forehead. Unfortunately the same could not be said for Potter.

He turned around slowly, his eyes searching the snowy and sharp faced mountain, which they had somehow come to land upon, they were way up in the mountain, looking down on a small valley. Hogwarts was nowhere to be seen, although you couldn't really see much through the thick blistering snow lashing down through the mountains. He was pondering ways, of which they could have come to be here, when a small bundle of black caught his eye. It was Potter. The boy was strewn across a large jagged rock, his leg was bent in a strange angle, his head was bloodied and there was a large gash in his chest which was barely moving. With a growing feeling of dread, Snape moved over to him. He crouched down and noticed the fine layer of snow already forming on Potter's chest and the slight tinge of blue on his lips.

He gently placed his hands under the boy's back and lifted him into his arms. As he was clambering over the foreboding rocks, he noticed how light Potter was. In fact if he moved his hand a little he could actually feel his ribs. This alarmed him a little more than he would have thought, as he realised that without proper winter clothes, and barely enough meat on him to keep a sheep alive, let alone a boy, there was even more risk of him dying of hypothermia. And quickly. After climbing uphill for about 5 minutes he noticed a small cave like hole, hidden from the snow by an overhanging cliff edge. Thinking that he wasn't going to find anything better, he climbed inside with the still unconscious boy hanging limply in his arms

….

Harry gained and lost consciousness several times, each time he tried to open his eyes, but found he hadn't the energy and gave up. He was only vaguely aware of what was going on, but at the same time he didn't really want to try to wake up. Because with awareness came the pain and he was feeling to weak and too tired to deal with it right then. He would sleep and then face it he thought as he once again succumbed to the darkness.

…..

Snape, after ducking into the cave like hole, realised that it was a lot longer than it would have appeared from the outside. The damp grey and ragged wall stretched for a good four metres length wise and was about 2 metres wide. Snape put him down near the left side wall and crouched beside him to examine him closer. His head was bleeding considerably from a large gash formed just above his hairline; his right leg was obviously broken as it lay still slanted in the opposite direction from his left, and the front of Potter's robes were thick and wet with blood.

Deciding to start at the top, he tore the hem of his robes of and started to dab at the blood oozing from the cut on his head, he was silently cursing Potter, whom made him rip his new robes for his sake, but decided that as much as he would like to, he couldn't really blame him for what happened and carried on tending to his head. He pulled a small parcel from his inside breast pocket and placed it on the cave floor. Once he had opened his portable potions kit he pulled out a stitching paste and carefully rubbed it into the wound.

After stopping the blood on Potter's head he then reached down towards his blood stained shirt on his chest, the blood made his shirt cling tightly onto Potter's skin, and deciding that the shirt was ruined anyway, the Professor picked up a near sharp rock and tore the white- now red shirt, careful not to touch the boy's skin. The shirt outlined every one of Potter's ribs, It was quite disturbing to see how much they stuck out, which made Snape think why it was that the pampered prince of the wizarding world was that scrawny, but as the shirt finally came clear of his skin all other thoughts were gone from his head as he gasped at what he saw.

There was a thick, deep gash running all the way from his right shoulder to the left of his stomach. It was literally pouring blood and was slowly trickling down onto the cave floor, forming a small but increasing puddle. Just as Snape was thinking that it was a lucky thing Potter was unconscious, he gave a soft moan of agony and opened his eyes.

…..

Harry could feel a searing pain coming from his chest and head, and his leg felt as though someone had dropped a fully grown hippogriff on it, he raise his eyes to meet another pair of dark black ones. Snape. It all started to come back to him now, the owlery, the black smoke… Snape looked back at him and for a moment there was complete silence until Snape finally said something.

"Nice of you to finally come around Potter" he said as though trying to sneer but failing.

Harry glared at him but only momentarily, he then tried to shift into a more comfortable position but a sharp and agonising pain went through his chest, he winced in pain and clenched his fist and eyes shut. Trying to block out the pain.

"Easy now Potter, don't move" Snape said in a commanding tone.

After a few calming breaths Harry opened his eyes again and said in nothing more than a whisper "what happened?"

"I have no idea, but you landed roughly and have quite a few injuries, so if you could just be quiet for a minute and let me tend to them Potter…."

Harry, finally building up the courage to look at his chest, slowly bent his head and saw the deep gash on his upper body, he gave a short groan and placed his head back on the hard ground "so nothing too serious then" he commented darkly.

Snape began wrapping another long bit of cloak around repeatedly over Potter's chest, as he wasn't very good with healing spells and didn't dare make it worse. Potter looked back at his chest for a second time during this process and his eyes widened slightly in alarm, as he noticed an old bruise on his chest just below his left rib. He slowly moved his hand up to cover it and then lay back down, clearly hoping Snape hadn't noticed. But he had. After he had finished wrapping up Potter's chest he looked down at his leg. It was still bent in that odd angle but Snape knew that none of his potions could cure that and so had to leave it as it was. Potter began shivering and Snape gave him a questioning look.

"It ...its c… cold" He spluttered, he attempted to wrap his arms around himself, but as his arm touched his chest he pulled back with a gasp of pain.

Snape who whilst sorting out Potter's wounds had forgotten that they were in the middle of a blizzard and that Potter was shirtless chastised himself and picked Potter's robes up, used a quick drying and warming spell and then placed it limply over him. "Better?" he asked

Potter just nodded then placed his head gently on the wall behind him and closed his eyes.

Soon after the boy had fallen asleep Snape sat back against the opposite wall and allowed himself to breathe calmly for the first time since they arrived in this place. He had to admit that Potter had strangely strong pain resilience; he knew that most of the other 3rd years back at the castle would have been screaming and yelling the cave in if they woke up with injuries like that. He had no idea why the spoiled brat reacted so calmly to the pain, it's not like he's ever had to deal with it, being the Boy- Who- Lived.

After half an hour or so Potter began to shake again, Snape had tried wrapping him up in his cloak more but it didn't help, so he decided to make a potion that would help prevent hyperthermia. He pulled out bottles of _dittany, heating pastels _and a silver liquid of Snape's own creation. He mixed these together in a spare vial and was about to give Potter some when the boy started moaning and shaking more violently saying "No!"

Realisation kicked in and Snape saw that Potter was having a nightmare. He put the bottle down next to him and went to shake Potter awake when the boy flinched in his sleep; his arm swung out and hit the potion onto the floor. Bright silver liquid fell into a perfectly round puddle on the floor.

"I'm going to kill you when you wake up Potter!" he growled as he went to clean it up. Potter's hand had dropped into the liquid. Tiny swirls were going up and down his fingers like rings, his whole hand had some kind of pattern on it made up from the liquid, it consisted of many swirls, waves, and circles. Snape stood amazed by this, he was about to banish the liquid when an image floated into view, glancing around in the puddle, stood a young Harry Potter.

**_Sorry it's not very long again, please review and let me know if it's any good or not_**

**_Thanks for reading it _**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Thank you for everyone who has reviewed…._**

**_ yukikiralacus_**

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**_GarnetMonsoon_**

**_23BlackRose_**

**_Nightshade's sydneylover150_**

**_Hobesan_**

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**_ceara1888_**

**_Dolceconbrio_**

**_Again, sorry if I forgot anyone._**

**_I do not own Harry Potter; anything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling_**

**_Now on with the story J_**

….

Snape peered closer into the glowing silver liquid and saw a small scrawny toddler with jet black untidy hair and small spectacles balancing loosely on his little nose. It was a 3 year old Harry Potter. The little Harry was outside in the rain, at a distance it would have looked as though he was just sitting leant against the house wall. But as Snape looked closer he saw that the young boy's hand was tied to the black drain pipe with a piece of thin rope. Rain was pouring down the little boy's face which was covered in an array of small bruises along with his shed tears.

The image blurred and transformed into a later one, where Harry looked about 6 years old. He was slaving over a giant frying pan which was about twice the size of his head. He attempted to lift the frying pan of the stove, using two little and fair hands to heave the spitting frying pan over to the table where a large whale of a man, along with what Snape presumed to be his wife, a thin face horse like woman, and their son who was at least 3 times larger than Harry. Harry went to use a fork to scoop the bacon onto the empty plates, when the weight of it proved to be too much and the frying pan fell out of his grip, hitting the table with a crash. Harry quickly recovered from his mishap and picked the frying pan back up.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING?" His uncle bellowed, he jumped up from the table and grabbed Harry by his hair, the small boy yelped and the frying pan fell to the floor, spilling the bacon everywhere. He dragged him over to the table and pushed the boy's head down so his nose was about an inch from the table cloth. "YOU SEE THAT?" he screamed at the frightened 6 year old "YOU SEE THAT BURN MARK BOY?"

"I... I'm sorry s… sir" Harry whimpered trying to break free of his uncle's unforgiving grip.

"Sorry won't clear that mark boy!" Vernon said, he pushed Harry's head down, and with a _whack_ the boy's head collided with the wooded table and he crumbled to the floor with a yelp. Vernon kicked him hard in the stomach; this was followed by another soft yelp. He then picked Harry up by the scruff of the neck. Revealing the small trickle of blood flowing down the child's face from a cut on his eyebrow. He marched the boy into the hallway, yanked open the cupboard door and threw the boy in.

"Don't be expecting any food for a week boy!" Vernon called into the cupboard; he then slammed the door shut and bolted it.

Again the image changed for a third time and it showed a slightly taller, though not by much, and older looking Harry. The 10 year old was in the front room this time, the curtains were closed to block out the evening street lamps. Snape's attention turned back to Harry, who was in a kneeling position and was being restrained by his cousin. Dudley Dursley was at least twice the size of Harry and had the smaller boy's arms locked behind his back.

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to tell Miss Marshall, she asked about the bruises and I….. I just…." Harry wasn't allowed to finish as his uncle, who stood towing over his nephew, backhanded the boy in the face, Harry's head was snapped sideways with the force, and he would of fallen over was it not for his cousins beefy hands holding him up.

"I… I'm…" he stuttered, but once again was cut off by a blow directed on his stomach. Harry tried to bend over in pain but his cousin's held onto the top off his hair and pulled his head back so he was looking up at his uncle.

"Aaaaaahhh" Harry yelled again as a second punch came his way "I'm sorry sir, I'll never tell, never again. I promise" Harry pleaded as a third punch hit him on the cheek.

"You promise eh?" his uncle teased "you think you've learnt your lesson boy?" at Harry's vigorous nodding he chuckled darkly. "Take you shirt off" he demanded as he began to unhinge his belt.

Harry looked up at his uncle and his eyes widened as he saw the belt in his uncles hand. "No please sir, I'll be good" he begged. But it was no good… He reached up and took off his shirt.

The image became blurry again and the last Snape saw was a screaming Harry and the sound of a cracking whip. The liquid changed for the last time to show a more resent Harry. It had to be this summer.

Harry was pinned against the wall in the hallway. Vernon had a tight grip around the still small boy's neck. You could tell this wasn't the first punishment that summer from the bluish purple bruises on the boy's face.

"What? You not gonna beg me to stop?" his uncle demanded as he landed one of his famous punches on Harry's cheek.

"No" Harry whispered, he was turning slowly red from his uncle's grasp. "It won't help" he managed to say before another punch.

"I s'pose not" Vernon said as he eventually hit Harry to the ground. He kicked the boy as hard as he could in the ribs and the hallway was filled with a deafening _crack_, followed by Harry's cry of pain.

Snape turned away from the liquid, which turned pale as the images disappeared, he felt sick to the stomach at what he had just watched. He couldn't believe it to be true, despite knowing what the silver liquid was and does, he could not believe that the arrogant, spoiled brat Potter had been subjected to abuse. Not only abuse, but the worst abuse he had heard of. Even his own childhood, which had been abusive and harsh, wasn't as bad as that. He knew of one way to truly tell if what he had seen had been true. The last scene he had viewed had clearly been resent, this summer even. And the fact being that it is only the first night of term, Potter wouldn't have been able to heal his rib that had been broken by his uncle.

Snape remembered Potter hiding something on his chest earlier in the night as he crouched down beside the sleeping boy. He gently lifted Potter's hand away from his ribs and swore at what he found. Where Potter's hand had been, stood a giant blue and black bruise covering his whole left rib. Snape sat back against the wall, next to him and heaved a sigh. So it was true. And here he had been calling the boy spoiled all these years and Potter never said anything. _Of course he never said anything; he was conditioned not to_ Snape thought to himself. He looked down at Potter and saw that the robes he had wrapped around the chest wound were soaking with blood; they needed changing before an infection could set in.

He was unwilling to wake the boy up, but knew he must, so he gently shook Potter's shoulders

Harry woke up to see Snape above him, his hand on his shoulder. He looked about the cave and realised where they were. He tried to sit up but winced as the pain of his chest, head and leg combined to make pure agony.

"Careful Potter" Snape said as he went to help him into a sitting position "I need to change the dressing on your chest"

Snape went about putting another strip of robes on his chest and as he was bending down over Harry, Harry noticed that the professor's head was cut.

"Sir, are you alright?" Harry asked

Snape was startled by the question, Potter, who was sitting here bleeding half to death was asking if he was alright "what? I'm fine Potter; I'd be more concerned about yourself if I was you!"

Harry who took Snape's serious tone as an angry one, said "sorry sir, it's just that your head is cut, I was wondering if you needed some of this robe for yourself before you used it all on me"

Snape took in Potter's sincere look and wondered that there was more of Lily in Potter than he thought. "I'm fine" Snape repeated with a raised eyebrow and carried on with Potter's chest.

After Potter's chest wound was wrapped up, Snape decided that he needed to talk to him about the Dursleys. He wanted to see if he would deny the abuse and so he started with a simple question.

"How did you hurt your rib Potter?" he asked

Harry was shocked by the question; he had forgotten to cover up the bruise _damn it! _He thought quickly and moved his hand to cover the bruise. "I er... fell over and landed on a tree stump" Harry said easily, he was used to lying about his bruises and had a mental list of excuses. Harry was half tempted to tell Snape the truth, just to see his face. But the pain wasn't worth it.

Snape bit back a sigh at the response; of course Potter wasn't going to tell him. He had hardly given the boy any reason to trust him over the years, what with the snarky comments and sly remarks. No, he would have to just come right out and say it and hope for the best.

"You sure it wasn't your uncle?" Snape asked looking directly into Potter's eyes

Harry heard the question and his heart stopped. How did he know? His breathing sped up and his hands became sweaty, he mustered up as much calm as he could and responded with "It wasn't my uncle, I... I fell over"

**_There you go, pretty serious chapter, sorry if it was a bit too detailed, please review and let me know what you think J_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, _**

**_mockingjay2012_**

**_karisaren_**

**_Nameless Secret Keeper_**

**_Thatsallwegot_**

**_hazeldragon_**

**_Disclaimer- I do not own anything, it all belongs to the wonderful JK _**

**_Note- this story doesn't follow the year three in Harry Potter, Sirius Black is not involved_**

Harry heard the question and his heart stopped. How did he know? His breathing sped up and his hands became sweaty, he mustered up as much calm as he could and responded with "It wasn't my uncle, I... I fell over"

Snape looked into the boy's eyes and saw the scared and panicked look in them. He knew that this wasn't going to be easy. From what he saw in the reveller liquid, Potter had been abused since he was a toddler and was hardly going to speak so freely about it now, to him, the greasy git of the dungeons. And from the looks of the punishments the boy would get if he told anyone about his situation, this was going to be especially hard to get it out of him. But deciding that Potter had nowhere to go and couldn't exactly walk away, he finally spoke.

"Do you know what was in this bottle Potter?" he asked holding up the empty reveller liquid bottle. When Harry shook his head he continued "it was reveller liquid. The potion is more commonly used to prevent hypothermia; I was going to give it to you when you decided to knock it all over the cave floor" he said with a scowl "what a lot of people don't know is that reveller liquid also has other uses, when the liquid is in contact with someone who is having a severe nightmare, it acts as a channel for bad memories. It takes some of the person's bad memories, and they are played through the liquid."

Harry had paled considerably and said in nothing more than a whisper "what has this got to do with me? Sir" he added at Snape's scowl

"Because Potter, this potion came in contact with your skin!" he snapped, he was growing impatient, he knew he shouldn't but he couldn't help it. He watched as Harry became even paler.

Harry felt his stomach drop, what had Snape seen? He was having a nightmare about the Dursleys, where his uncle was hitting him because he came home from Hogwarts for Christmas. Of course that had never happened. He would never go back for Christmas, not after years of being locked in his cupboard all day, only to come out to clean. He shook his head to get rid of the memories. "And did it… er did you…." He spluttered trying to find the right words.

"Did I see your memories?" Snape asked for him, as Potter looked up at him, he continued "yes, I saw you from when you were a toddler, pushed out in the rain, I saw when you were punished for burning the table" Potter looked away again. "I saw you being punched, whipped and beaten with my own eyes Potter so don't even try to deny it"

Harry felt completely sick; his eyes were beginning to dampen so he looked away from Snape. He was looking over at the cave entrance where snow was shooting down with a renewed fierceness.

Snape realised Harry wasn't going to say anything so he began to continue "I saw….."

"Don't!" Harry snapped, he brought his head up. Snape could see the tears prickling in the teenagers eyes "just don't" he whispered, he tried to calm his breathing, he could feel his heart beating.

Snape watched as Harry tried to calm down, he was completely lost for words. He had been holding it in for far too long and Snape knew that if he carried on talking, Potter was sure to break down. He felt annoyed that it had to be him here with the boy when it happened, but immediately let go of that thought. He had to talk to him, so he continued.

"Why did you never tell someone?" he asked "someone could of helped you" as he ended his voice was also a little over a whisper.

Harry looked up at that question "who would you suggest I tell, as you so often point out, I haven't exactly got anyone" he finished; his anger was building up now. He had managed to avoid this conversation, and now Snape, the guy who gets pleasure out of bullying him, is the one to find out.

The words hit Snape like a knife, he was right he was always making comments about how Potter _didn't have anyone_, and how _no one loved_ _Potter _and all this time this has been going on. "You could have told a teacher, McGonagall, Dumbledore, even… even me, we could have stopped it" he said quietly

"I come to school to avoid….. You know, I didn't want to spend my whole year having everyone know I was poor abused little Harry Potter." He spat, he was feeling ill now, along with his injuries, he felt sick to the core of his stomach, he had never talked about this much to anyone, let alone the guy who hated him.

Snape had no Idea what to say "look" he started then he sighed "I know I haven't been the nicest to you Potter, but you have to talk to me, I can't help you if you don't tell me exactly what happened"

"I don't want _your_ help!" Harry spat, hears eyes watering "I don't want _anyone's_ help!"

Snape stared at him, getting annoyed now; the arrogant brat thinks he has it under control. "Oh really Potter? And whys that? The great Harry Potter can deal with it, can he? Has it all under control, and doesn't need anyone's assistance?

"BECAUSE I'M SCARED!" he blurted out, he was positively shaking now, from a mixture of Pain, fear, and anger "I'm scared that if I let myself hope, I'll just feel more pain when I'm let down" he finished in a whisper

Snape stared at him again, all previous anger gone. He moved his legs so they were stretched out in front of him, and looked up at the boy in front of him. Potter had his shirt off still and now that he looked, Snape could see other bruises and scars across the boy's chest and arms, the robes that were wrapped around his chest were already soaked from the blood.

There was a long silence between them, where Harry sat trying to control his breathing and stem the tears that were now falling freely down his cheeks.

After further time past in silence, Snape saw that there was blood from Potter's chest wound now falling down his chest and making a small puddle at the bottom of the boy's stomach. Snape got up and grabbed a spare piece of cloth; he rolled it up into a thick line and then advanced on Potter. Intending to wipe it off.

Harry saw Snape come towards him with the rolled up cloth, it reminded him of the many times Aunt Petunia had hit him with a rolled up tea towel, Snape stood over him with the cloth in hand and before he realised what he was doing, Harry had put a hand up to protect his face.

Snape watched as the boy pulled his arm up in front of his head, his eyes looking at the piece of cloth in his hand. Snape took a step back and placed the cloth on the floor. He had not intended to scare him. Potter eventually let his arm fall, his face was bright red and he was looking at his hands.

"I..." he began to stutter

Snape kneelt down in front of him and slowly lifted the boy's chin up "I'm not gonna hurt you Potter, I am not that piece of muggle scum that calls himself your uncle, nor will I lower myself to his standards, no matter how much you irritate me. Understood!?"

Harry slowly nodded, he looked back down at the piece of cloth that Snape was carrying, he was such an idiot, thinking Snape was going to hit him with it.

Snape followed his gaze and suddenly thought of something "Potter, your relatives haven't ever hit you with anything besides the belt have they?" he asked cautiously not sure whether he wanted to know the answer

Harry looked away for what felt like the hundredth time that night, this was one question he didn't want to answer, and he wasn't going to.

"No!" he answered, Snape knew he was lying, he could see he was hiding something

The answer Harry gave was a lie, but he really couldn't speak about that incident, besides it had only been once or twice, so it wasn't really a big deal. Well it was to Harry, he could still recall every single time he had been hit with it.

Snape didn't want to do this, but he needed to know, and Potter clearly wasn't going to tell him, so with a sigh he legitimized the boy in front of him.

It didn't take long to find what he was looking for in the boys mind, and soon he came across a memory of Potter, lying on the floor and standing above him was his uncle. He had his hands raised above his head, and in his hands was a large wooden baseball bat. Snape pulled out of the memory just as Vernon had swung down. If he thought he felt sick before, it was nothing compared to now, he couldn't talk about that with the boy, not now at least. So he sat back down opposite him and took a calming breath.

Harry was confused, he had suddenly remembered the memory of Uncle Vernon using the bat. And the look on Snape's face straight after he had remembered, it was like Snape had seen it too, but he couldn't have, so Harry stopped thinking about it in an attempt to get his pumping heart to slow down.

After another long pause Snape asked "did you tell your friends about what was happening?"

Harry, glad for the distraction said "I didn't want to tell them, but Ron saw the bruises in first year and after the Dursleys sent me a tissue for Christmas, he put two and two together and asked me about it, and then he convinced me to tell Hermione. They tried to help; they sent me different things through the summer like food and stuff" Harry blurted out, he had no idea why he was telling Snape of all people this.

"You should of told a teacher, we could have done something sooner" Snape said, even after watching his memories, he didn't know it had been this bad.

Harry just shook his head; he had never really known an adult to help him with this kind of situation and had given up trying a while ago. He was feeling tired and weak; he closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep. Snape looked across at the sleeping boy, he looked so innocent, he could hardly believe that this small abused little boy, was the same boy who had been the bane to his existence the last 2 years. It had been a long day, deciding to follow the boy's lead, he layed his head down on some spare cloth and soon dozed off.

Harry woke the next morning to find Snape already up and walking about the cave he looked down at his chest and saw the blood pouring from cloth wrapped around it. "Can I have that cloth please sir?" he said to Snape pointing at a small strand of torn robes near Snape's foot.

Snape saw that the blood was now all down his chest, the robes weren't holding, they needed to get back to the castle, and soon. Morning light was coming though the caves entrance. He could apparate them back but he didn't think Harry was strong enough. "Here, I'll do it" Snape said as he came over and started swiping away the blood. It was no good putting the boy's shirt on because it would just sting his wound.

"When can we go back?" Harry asked Snape

"We can go back anytime by apparition, I just don't know if you will be able to make it" Snape said he stood up and walked over to the mouth of the cave, it had stopped snowing now and the morning sun had begun melting the snow.

"Let's go back, now" Harry called over to Snape "I'm not going to get any stronger in here" he pointed out, he desperately wanted to go back to the castle, they must have been gone at least 12 hours.

Snape came back over "Are you sure?" he didn't want to increase the boy's injuries, but then again he didn't think Potter could survive another day in the cave.

At Harry's nod he went over to stand above the boy. "You're going to have to stand up"

Harry let Snape lift him up, but as he was standing, he felt as though all his injuries had been woken up again, he cried out in pain, he was use to pain but this was excruciating. He gripped tight onto Snape's robes, his eyes were clenched shut, and his knuckles were white from holding onto Snape so hard.

"Potter!" Snape questioned, the boy's scream had been painful even to listen to and he was now extremely pale, eventually his grip lessened and his breathing evened out, he was still swaying a little. "Are you okay?" he asked, real concern in his voice. Harry just nodded, not able to do much more.

Snape wasn't sure, the apparition could worsen the injuries, and the boy was already in a critical condition.

"just go, I can do it" Harry said, his leg was in searing pain from standing up, all he wanted was to be back at the castle, in bed.

Snape took one last look at Harry's determined face and took hold of his shoulders. The cave was filled with a deafening _crack_ that echoed throughout. And then silence fell on the now empty cave.

**_Hey all, thanks for reading, sorry if this one was a bit sinister, but I need to follow the story line, again, let me know what you all think_**

**_ Also I'm trying to think of a name for a new defence teacher, and I can't think of anything good to call him, any Ideas? :)_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Thanks again to everyone reading and reviewing_**

**_ smiley1014_**

**_Destiny_**

**_Siren Called9 _**

**_autumngold _**

**_I walk alone _**

**_mockingjay_**

**_Shadow Kitsune67 _**

**_psion53_**

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**_ hazeldragon _**

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**_PJHPHoAFreak97 _**

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**_ dimkasgirl07 _**

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**_Thatsallwegot _**

**_Nameless Secret Keeper_**

**_Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been busy with school and stuff, hope you all like it J _**

Harry felt his insides being squeezed, he had never apparated before, and if this was how it felt, he never wanted to. He couldn't breathe the only solid thing he could acknowledge was the firm grip of his teacher's hand on his shoulder. Finally he felt his feet hit solid ground, his broken leg gave way, and he landed on his knees. His vision was blurring and he was sure he was about to pass out, he tried to hold out but it was useless. His eyes rolled back in his head as he lost consciousness.

Snape steadied himself after landing on the cool ground; it was a lot harder apparating another person. Especially one who could barely stand. He looked down at Potter as he began to fall forwards; he caught the boy just before he hit the ground, and lifted him easily into his arms. He noticed again how light he was and felt a rush of pure anger towards the vermin who abused the limp child in his arms.

They had landed at the Hogwarts gates; Snape struggled to balance Potter as he attempted to get his wand out. Once he had his wand and Harry securely in each arm he deactivated the wards on the gates and pushed them open, he then pocketed his wand and carried on up the path towards the castle.

As Snape had suspected, when they reached the castle he found a small gathering of people awaiting them. Standing on the steps leading to the entrance hall stood Dumbledore, McGonagall, the new defence against the dark arts teacher Professor Malcolm and Potter's friends Weasley and Granger.

Dumbledore rushed down towards Snape "Severus, Thank god you're here, are you alright?" he asked as he reached him.

"I'm fine headmaster, Potter's not, he needs the hospital wing, the apparation took the last of his strength" he said while continuing up towards the doors. The group on the stairs gasped as they saw Harry, and Snape realised how bad it must look, him carrying a blood soaked and bruised Harry towards them, _they don't know the half of it_ he thought snidely. He had planned what he was going to say to Dumbledore, but that could wait. He and the rest of them climbed the stairs to the hospital wing, where they laid the unconscious Harry on a bed in the far corner opposite a window.

Harry's eyes fluttered open. He had no idea how long he had been asleep, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed where he was. His vision was still blurry, he started to panic, until he realised he didn't have his glasses. He reached across to the side table, picked them up and put them on; he had been in the hospital wing enough times, to know that that was where Madam Pomfrey always put them. He sat up gingerly, the hospital wing was empty and bright sunlight was glistening in through the window. Pomfrey came in then and noticed he was awake.

"Ah Mr Potter you are awake, how are you feeling dear?" she asked kindly as she came over to his bed.

"Uh okay I think" he said, he wasn't quite sure how he felt as he hadn't tried to move too much yet "how long have I been asleep?"

"About a day and a half, it is now Tuesday. your friends were here most of yesterday but they were told they had to go to classes today" she came around to the other side of the bed so she was closer to Harry, she took out her wand and pointed at him "I need to have a look at your chest" she stated as Harry gave her a questioning look. She vanished his pyjama top and began to unwind the bandages. When all the bandages were gone Harry looked down at his chest, there was a thick red line running from his shoulder to his belly button, it had stopped bleeding but still looked pretty nasty.

"Wow" Harry said in amazement "I didn't realise it was that big"

"Yes, well you were losing a lot of blood at the time, I'm not surprised you passed out" she commented, she went over to the cabinet and came back with a small tub. She opened it and began to rub a thick yellow paste over the cut. Harry winced as her fingers touched his chest.

"It will sting for a few days, but this should help fade the scarring" she said quietly and she carried on rubbing it in.

Harry was told to stay put for the rest of the day, his chest wound was slowly healing, all though Madam Pomfrey had said that it was bound to leave a scar. _Just another one for the collection_ he had thought darkly when she told him this earlier that day. But his leg wasn't taking to the healing charms as effectively as it should.

At six o clock, Madam Pomfrey placed a plate of dinner on Harry's lap with promises that if he didn't eat it, she would strap him to the bed and force it down his throat. That and his friend's insistence earlier that day convinced him to at least try to eat. After surviving with little to no food at the Dursleys over the years, Harry found that he could rarely eat much. After having a few nibbles of chicken and a forkful of peas he put his near full plate on the side table.

Little over five minutes after Harry had finished his dinner, Snape came through the doors carrying a few bottles of a horrid greeny brown liquid. Pomfrey came out to greet him.

"Ah Severus, you have the potion I requested I see" Pomfrey stated as she took the bottles from Snape and carried them over to where Harry sat propped up in bed. Snape followed her and stood at the side of his bed.

"You are recovering I presume Potter?" Snape said in his usual snarky tone

"Yes sir" Harry replied. He then remembered the question he had been dying to ask all day. "Sir, do you know where that smoke came from that took us to that mountain?"

"The headmaster has his suspicions, I'm sure he will tell you them when he sees fit" he commented

Pomfrey spoke up then, she picked up one of the horrible looking potions and gestured at it with her other hand " This Mr Potter is a nutrient and calcium supplement, it appears that the reason your leg is not healing is because you have considerable lack of the two primary important substances needed for growth." She put the bottle down and picked up the tray of half eaten food he had left on his side table "this" she indicated the dinner "is also a problem, is there any reason why you are not eating Mr Potter?"

Harry again felt his stomach drop, he could hardly tell her that the reason that he has not been eating is because of 13 years of starvation. Then he remembered that Snape knew of the Dursleys, he dared a glance up and saw that he was frowning down at him. "I…I just wasn't hungry" Harry said, hoping dearly that Snape didn't say anything.

"Hm, well you will need to take this supplement every morning at breakfast" Pomfrey said "as for your leg, it will need time to heal, but considering that you will probably go mad if I kept you in here for another two weeks for it to fix, I have got some crutches for you to use" at this she waved her wand and a pair of silver poles with slightly cushioned handles, came zooming out of her office and into her open hand. "You will need to come back in here every evening for me to re-dress your chest and leg" she finished

"So I can go back to my dormitory now?" he asked not able to hide to joy in his voice

Pomfrey laughed and commented with "honestly any one would thing I torture my patients" she laughed again and then said "yes Mr Potter you may go back, Professor if you could escort him back?" she asked Snape

Snape just nodded. They waited outside the curtain as Harry got dressed into one of his big baggy t-shirts, and a pair of too big blue shorts, so they didn't touch his bandaged leg. Once he was dressed Pomfrey handed him the crutches, and made him drink one of the mouldy coloured potions.

Harry downed it in one gulp and his face consorted into a grimace as the foul tasting liquid slid down his throat "that's disgusting" he grumbled

"Well it wasn't going to be made of pumpkin juice Potter" Snape sneered. Harry half glared at him and then the two left the infirmary, Harry clonking along rather slowly seeming as he was just getting use to the crutches. Snape saw that he was struggling to keep up and slowed his pace so he was beside Harry.

Harry was thinking back to in the cave and what he had told Snape about the Dursleys, so after another few minutes of silence he spoke. "Sir, did you tell anyone about …. The Dursleys?" he asked. Snape stopped and looked down at small boy in front of him.

"I haven't yet" Harry sighed with relief which pushed Snape to say "it doesn't mean I'm not going to Potter" he added. This made Harry look up in alarm.

"No, Sir please don't" Harry begged, he really didn't want anyone else knowing, Snape was bad enough but the thought of someone like Malfoy finding out was enough to make him cringe.

"You don't expect me to just sit by and do nothing, even you can't be that naïve" he Snapped, he knew Potter was going to react like this, but there was nothing else to do.

"Everyone else does" Harry mumbled

"Which is exactly why I'm going to do something" Snape said with such determination that for a moment, Harry actually believed he might care. Snape took hold of Harry's shoulders and shook them firmly "look at me!" "No child deserves what you've been put through, your uncle is just a vile piece of scum, and if I had the chance I would blast him to hell and back myself. Understood!" Snape shook Harry's shoulders again and then let go. Harry looked up at him with sad and drawn eyes, then he nodded. They continued up to Gryffindor tower in silence, it took a surprising time, with Harry's slow pace. When they finally reached the portrait of the fat lady, Snape stopped Harry.

"I'm going to arrange a meeting with the headmaster tomorrow evening to discuss the Dursleys, and expect you to be there, or else I will come and drag you up there by your ear. Clear?" he asked

Harry sighed and with a very quiet and drained voice answered with "yes sir"

"Good" he began to turn away but turned back before Harry went through the open portrait hole "Oh and Potter don't forget to take your supplement in the morning" he then walked off and turned round the corner. Out of sight. Harry stood staring after him, wondering about the sudden strange signs of compassion that Snape had just shown. He shook his head and clonked in with his crutches to the crowded common room.

**_there you go, just a bit of fluff this chapter, as for the DADA name, I decided to go for Professor Malcolm for no other reason than I like it, I know it's supposed to be something to do with their personality, but oh well, thanks for everyone who gave me suggestions. _**

**_And sorry its short again, but I'm not very good at long chapters_**


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